The Broken Portal Ghost Hunt Version
by Tsubasa Kya
Summary: Prologue in profile. Inuyasha xover. The Black Fire spat Shippou in a terrifying world. He nearly gets beheaded by Naraku who followed him, chased by cars and cats, and then is awarded the name Daisy. His time is not the best time. He wants to go home.
1. Part one

**Title: The Broken Portal Ghost Hunt Version  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer__: This fan fiction is dedicated to feathergriffin who asked me to write it.  
Saiyuki—Don't own  
Full Metal Alchemist—Don't own  
YuYu Hakusho—Don't own  
Excel Saga—Don't own  
Ghost Hunt—Don't own  
Inuyasha—Don't own_

For Old Readers: I decided to change things so it is easier for you to get updates on your favorite version, instead of waiting five chapters. The prologue to this story is its own thing now, and each seperate version of the story will have its own "story" link this way.

For Newcomers: If you have not read the prologue to this story, please go to my profile. The prologue is not long and explains exactly how the Inuyasha characters ended up in a seperate world. You do not have to read the other versions if you do not want to, as I do not predict that they will cross in the future.

...great... this means I have 5 separate stories to write now, instead of the previously planned single story. Although, Feather may be pleased with this, as she really only wanted the Saiyuki version anyway.

* * *

Part One

Shippou screamed loudly as he ran away from one seriously pissed off hanyou conformed of indelibly too many demons. "KYAA!" The world of the black fire was almost endless, and once they'd gotten inside, Naraku—seeing only Shippou anywhere—decided to place the blame for their problem in someone.

Shippou kept running down one of the paths in the strange world of the black flame and Naraku kept following him. There was a light ahead and he passed through it. Then he was falling. He landed with a thud on the ground six feet beneath him but immediately got up and started racing away again.

He saw an old abandoned building, so big he could only classify it as a mansion. He ran toward it, trying to escape the evil hanyou. He managed to transform into a mouse and ran into a mouse hole. Inside the mouse hole, he started twitching and shaking.

Shippou shivered in his tiny mouse body. Naraku hadn't been able to find him. In his panic, Shippou had managed to transform himself so successfully into a mouse that even his aura was covered up. It was a good thing too, since Naraku had no qualms with hurting Shippou (or killing). But unfortunately he'd quickly realized he had no idea how to reverse the transformation. His transformations were usually on a timer since he was so weak, but after the usual few hours passed and he didn't reverse, he'd gotten scared.

He'd made his way into a strange tube that ran under the ground, but unfortunately being a tiny mouse in the underground was a danger and all the giant rats saw him as was food. So he'd been chased by hundreds of jumbo sized rats all over the wet underground.

Then he'd managed to make his way above ground by some miracle—still while remaining in mouse form—only to be chased by feral cats and nearly run over by big metal carriages that emitted loud noises and noxious gasses. He'd managed to give the cats the slip and slid into another building.

That experience was also not one he wanted to relive. Sure, the building had appeared to be some vendor for tasty smelling food, but he'd nearly gotten his head ripped off by a dangerous trap as he went for some cheese, and then some insane lady with a broom nearly killed him with a cleaver.

He'd high tailed it out of there immediately.

He hadn't had a wink of sleep for a week, he was starving, and the only water he got to drink was dirty street water. Then on chance, he wandered into a building and found his way through the walls and through rooms in search of food. He bypassed piles of poison (they looked purposefully put there… why would anyone want to do that?) and more traps loaded with either poison or food.

He wasn't stupid enough to try for that food, neither was he hungry enough. He was proudly a youkai, and could withstand hunger for as long as he needed. Or at least until he died of starvation, but he had no intentions of letting himself get beheaded by one of those things.

Shippou climbed up onto a counter, his little mouse toes clicking on the counter as he sniffed around for something to eat. There was a bag of bread so he chewed his way into the bag and started eating the bread. Once he'd had his fill, he collapsed right where he was and let himself sleep. At least there didn't seem to be any feral cats around.

It seemed only moments later that he was rolled out of the bag. He opened his eyes and looked up into eyes as brown as the sweet candy Kagome liked to call milk chocolate. It was a young girl, probably Kagome's age or maybe a little younger. Her hair was a dark brown color and she wore an outfit almost similar to Kagome's. The skirt was longer, and the necktie a little different.

'Have I reached Kagome's world?' he wondered.

"Oh, hello." She said cheerfully. She wasn't afraid of him like the broom wielding cleaver woman. That was at least a step up. He rolled onto his stomach and pushed himself onto all fours, then stood up on his hind legs to peer at her in curiosity. If he stayed by this girl could she possibly lead him back to Kagome? She did wear a similar outfit after all.

Maybe they went to Kagome's school thing together…

"Someone must have lost you, huh, girl?" The girl questioned.

'I'm not a girl!' he thought, but his curiosity ebbed his anger away.

"Well, are you thirsty? After eating a hole in my bread, I'd imagine you must be…" She got out a dish and turned a magic knob that made an instant waterfall. It was a spectacular sight and he crawled closer to get a better look. She filled the bowl up with water and set it on the counter for him. Grateful for such pure looking water, he began drinking.

Then he saw his reflection. A rather dirty bow was tied around his neck. He wasn't much cleaner either. After a week of running through muck, he guessed not. It was a rather cute bow, green in color. He was fond of the color green, because it matched his eyes. But his transformation wasn't quite complete. His eyes were green instead of normal mouse-black. His fur was at least a proper black-brown.

"Poor girl. Here, look this way… come on," the girl said, snapping her fingers. He looked at her and then all he could see was bright light flashing in his eyes. "I'll have copies of this picture made and hang it around the apartment complex. That way your owner knows I found you."

'I don't have an owner,' he thought. He thought _owner_ was this world's way of saying parent, although in his world it usually meant pet-master or something. Still even if that were the case, he still didn't have an owner. He wasn't a pet; he was a youkai, and very proud of his heritage.

"Hm, where can I keep you until then?" she mused. She opened a nearby door, then shrieked and tried closing it. Unfortunately the door shot right back open and a mountain of clothes flew out, covering her as though it were a blizzard that suddenly swept through

"Gak!" she cried. He watched her climb out of the pile and brush herself off. "Geez. I just cleaned that." he heard her mutter. She shook her head slightly then moved over the pile and brought out what appeared to be a box of some sort. She took a knife and cut holes in it, then set the water dish in the box and the bread inside it as well.

"Well, in you go," she said and then carefully scooped Shippou up and put him inside the box. "Don't worry, girl. We'll find your owner." She capped the box and he hear her go away. He got bored sitting in the box and so he chewed a hole in it and went to look around.

A lot of things were incredible and required a lot of investigation, such as a pillow so soft and comfortable he couldn't resist curling up on it and falling to sleep. He only woke up when the girl came back, but didn't bother moving from his comfortable spot.

She eventually found him, and giggled. "Well you can't stay there." She said. "I posted the pictures, not that you'll understand, but I wanted you to know. And I got a new bag of bread. Hopefully you eat the old bag instead of this one, but who knows how long you've been lost… you were probably starved. It's just good you didn't go for one of the traps. Speaking of, I should probably snap those just in case. And sweep the poison up."

'Don't normal people scream at the sight of a mouse?' he wondered.

"It's strange. I normally am afraid of mice…" she smiled. Did she read his mind? "But there's something about your eyes… It reminds me of Naru-chan." She scooped him up again and set him in the box. "Please stay in here. Wouldn't want you getting lost again…" she sighed. "Well, goodnight."

He waited until her breathing had evened out before crawling out of the box again. She didn't really expect him to stay inside a box he already chewed his way out of, did she? He then continued his search of her home. It was strange… where were the adults?


	2. Part two

**Title: The Broken Portal Ghost Hunt Version  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer__: This fan fiction is dedicated to feathergriffin who asked me to write it.  
Saiyuki—Don't own  
Full Metal Alchemist—Don't own  
YuYu Hakusho—Don't own  
Excel Saga—Don't own  
Ghost Hunt—Don't own  
Inuyasha—Don't own_

* * *

Part Two

"You have a rat… on your shoulder…" Houshou Takigawa, the former Mt. Kouya monk, said, staring at the plump mouse on Mai Taniyama's shoulder. They all found it rather strange to see a rather ugly rat with a long hairless tail sitting on Mai's shoulder with an emerald green ribbon wrapped around its neck like a collar.

Mai blinked and turned her head to look at the mouse out of the corner of her eyes. Then, as though realizing late what was being said, she nodded. "Yup! This is Daisy." Mai brushed her brown hair out of her eyes before holding an open palm out for the mouse. "Come on, Daisy," she told the mouse.

The mouse walked onto her hand before sitting on its hind quarters. Mai walked over to her tiny secretary desk and set 'Daisy' down, never knowing that the mouse was actually a young kitsune in disguise. Mai pulled a piece of single wrapped string cheese from her pocket and unwrapped it for her new pet.

"Where'd you get this disease trap?" Takigawa asked.

Mai smiled as she broke chunks of the cheese off and set it on the desk. "She found me, actually. She was just so skinny, I felt bad for her. And she's eating all the time."

Takigawa blinked at the mouse. He couldn't tell. It wasn't like it was a fat rat or anything. Come to think of it, the thing didn't really look mouse-like except for the tail and the nose. It looked more like a green-eyed blob than anything. "I think you should cut back on feeding her." Takigawa suggested.

"Why?" Mai asked. She was startled to hear him talk, since she'd been trying to think about what the others would say about her little Daisy.

"She's—" Takigawa started, but the door opening caught both of their attention and dragged it away from Daisy. Through the door walked Lin-san, an associate of Kazuya Shibuya—or as everyone really knew him, Naru-chan (being that it is short for narcissist).

Lin-san took one look at Mai, Takigawa, and then the mouse-blob on the desk eating cheese, and continued walking toward his office. "Naru is leaving this week. Neither of you are needed." He said.

"Where is he?" Mai asked. Why was it that she always was the last to know Naru was leaving? Lin-san didn't answer, as was usual for him, but the phone rang at that very moment. Mai went to do as was her duty and answer the phone. She still didn't know why Takigawa was at the office when she got there after school, but he was a weird old monk.

He'd probably have a heart attack at being called 'old' though. He was only in his twenties, but still older than most of them. "Thank you for calling Shibuya Psychic Research. My name is Taniyama, how can I help you?" Just like Naru had insisted she call him.

"Mai," even from the single syllable, Mai would have known who it was. It was Naru on the other end.

"Naru!" she exclaimed in surprise. He usually didn't _call_ the office. He just came in, considering it was his office and all that. Lin-san stopped walking, his hand on his office door knob, and he tilted his head as though listening. Takigawa stopped poking Daisy to listen.

"You're on vacation from school this week, correct?" As usual, it didn't sound like a question but sounded more like a 'I know you are, so don't bother arguing' type of voice. "Go home and pack for the week. I will pick you up in one hour. Understood?"

She blinked, attempting to catch up with him. "Um, okay but what for?" Her stomach got little butterflies at the thought of spending time with Naru… and a week, by the sound of things!

"One hour. We will be taking the subway transit system to our destination." He hung up. As usual, he was cryptic. But for some reason, she got chills down her spine and the thought that Naru was very unhappy didn't bode well for her.

Takigawa asked, "What was that?"

"I'm not sure. He just told me to pack for the week." She went over to her desk and picked up Daisy. "He wouldn't say what for."

Takigawa joked, "He's going to introduce you to his family to get their approval to court you formally!"

Although Mai's heart fluttered at the idea, she ignored it. "I seriously doubt that." Lin-san said nothing but entered his office. "Why are you here anyway?"

"I'm waiting for a package. I had it shipped here."

xXx

'Daisy' sat grumpily in the small plastic cage Mai had gotten for him from a pet store. Inside it were wood shavings that padded the floor, a tube he would have climbed through if he fit, and a water dispenser he could lick for water. His food dish was empty of food but filled with shavings and half buried.

The girl was nice and all, but the food she fed him was weak in comparison to what he could eat in his world for replacing energy, so he had to eat a lot. It would have been a lot easier if he could revert to his original self, but Shippou got the feeling that if he did that, Naraku would find him.

Actually that wasn't just a feeling. It was a certainty. As they were about to leave the girl's apartment, her phone rang and she set her duffle bag of clothes and Shippou's cage on the floor before picking up the phone.

"Hello?" she said into the item Shippou had learned to be a way for humans to speak to other humans. He wasn't stupid. He was a bright young kit and he took to heart what he saw and heard. Still, Shippou was really enjoying the time with Mai. She was as nice as Kagome, but Shippou had far more in common with Mai than with Kagome.

He'd learned that Mai was alone. She was an orphan. She talked to him, almost like she thought he would understand—and not knowing that he did. He really wanted to be himself again, but somehow he had wrapped his aura up incredibly well, so that he could not even transform a little bit. Despite that, he still needed to keep eating a lot to keep his aura strong and healthy or it would kill him.

"I'm sorry, sir," Mai said pleasantly. Shippou had learned she was generally a very happy person. There were few people who could get on her bad side—truly on her bad side. "There is no one named Shippou here."

Shippou froze instantly. 'Naraku… he's looking for me…' he knew Naraku was. He had to find Kagome! Kagome would know what to do. Kagome always made things better.

Mai hung up the phone, picked up her duffle bag and slung it over her shoulder, and then grabbed the mouse cage. "Isn't that silly, Daisy?" she asked. "They had the wrong number." She shrugged and locked her apartment up before heading down the stairs and out of the building. "Ah well. We'll be spending a week with Naru, won't we, Daisy?"

'Daisy' rolled his eyes. Mai was completely heels over head for 'Naru' and Shippou hadn't even met the guy yet. Shippou didn't like the guy already. His nose twitched in irritation.

"I wonder where we're going," Mai said mostly to herself. They waited on the sidewalk in front of the building for almost five minutes before a limousine pulled up and Naru got out, his deep blue eyes looking piercingly at Mai for a few seconds.

Shippou glared at the boy for several long seconds before noticing that something was very _wrong_ with 'Naru'. Kazuya Shibuya wore all black and his eyes were an incredible shade of blue. Shippou noticed they were the same exact shade that Kagome's were, with no small amount of surprise. Naru's short black hair was kept perfectly trimmed and his skin was very pale.

But what was wrong then? What was putting Shippou on edge about that boy? As Mai picked Shippou's cage up and slung her bag over her shoulder, Shippou found it increasingly difficult to remain calm in the cage. The closer he got to Naru, the more on edge he became. Naru did not carry a bag for 'a week away'.

And then Naru's eyes glanced at the cage Shippou was trapped in. Those deep blue eyes seemed to see right through Shippou's disguise and he couldn't help but squeak and attempt to burrow under the wood shavings. His fat girth could not be entirely covered.

"You did not mention a pet," Naru said almost accusingly.

Mai pointed out, "You didn't ask if I had one. And no matter where we're going, I can't leave Daisy behind." Mai looked nervously at the limousine. "Are we going in that?"

The vehicle then took off into traffic, almost as if that were its cue. "No," Naru said simply. "We will be taking the subway. The nearest terminal is three blocks from here." He started walking and Mai hastened to follow nervously.

"What are we doing?" Mai asked. "I mean, where are we going and what are we doing when we get there?"

Naru's lips pressed together slightly. "We will find out when we get there."

She was so startled that she had to stop walking. 'We'. He didn't know? That was not very ordinary for him. He had all the information he possibly could have before setting out to do something. She had to hurry to catch up again. She remained silent, pondering this new sight of Naru. He was _always_ prepared.

How would this be affecting him? Not knowing…

The stairs leading underground into the subway loomed ahead and Mai hesitated on the top stair. If Naru didn't know what he was getting into, did she want to go? Did she trust him enough? Could she trust him that much? _Could_ she? _Should_ she? _Would_ she?

Five stairs down in front of her, Naru turned his head to look back at her. He reached out his hand. "Come. I am already late." As usual, he did not smile. He never smiled, except in her dreams. She wished he would.

She tucked Daisy's tiny cage under one arm, her bag slung over her shoulder still, and reached out to take his hand, following after him. He bought two subway access tickets and gave her one of them. They boarded the already filled subway train and with no remaining seats, they grabbed the steady straps.

Mai never liked the subway. It was always so stuffy; even worse than the city bus transit. So many people rode the subway that their perfumes and colognes combined with the stench of some people who didn't shower. She had a sensitive nose; it made her feel ill. Added to that was the fact that she was jostling about on the steady strap.

She almost couldn't help but start wondering when the ride would be over. She stared at her ticket, wishing Naru still held her hand, but her hands were full of the steady strap and her ticket and beneath her free arm was Daisy's cage. It was with surprise that she noticed the ticket said 'one-way'. It was cheaper to purchase two-way tickets. Surely Naru knew that… everyone knew that…

The person in front of Mai slipped backward and bumped her. She nearly lost her balance and had to let go of her steady strap to catch Daisy's cage. "Sorry," she apologized to the man who bumped her, her face bright red. He glanced at her but turned back to his folded newspaper.

Then Mai realized Naru was holding her. Sure, it wasn't anything really special. Naru's arm was just around her shoulder, keeping her steady. She apologized to Naru and attempted to grab her steady strap again but he wouldn't let her go. She looked at him through long lashes and saw a bored look on his face as he watched out the subway window to see the subway walls pass in a dizzying speed.

Quite technically, Mai didn't want to leave the embrace anyway so she didn't press further to do so. She held Daisy's cage, very conscious to the fact that Naru was keeping her steady. She said nothing as the train came to a stop. Naru kept her still; they were not getting off at that stop.

A glance at her ticket showed her they would get off somewhere near the western outskirts of the city. Did Naru intend to hang onto her for that long? She blushed and tried to hide it in her hair.

After another stop, some seats opened and Naru pulled Mai toward them before the people getting on could take them. They sat next to each other and only their shoulder's touched. Mai put her bag on her lap and Daisy's cage on top of her bag.

Just as she had predicted, Mai and Naru were on the train all morning. Naru had them get off at the last stop of the day, and they left the subway to find the morning had turned to bright afternoon. She looked at her ticket again and with a frown, realized she had misread it.

"Naru," she began to bring it up, but he ignored her and left for a second subway transit station just across the street. This particular subway would not only take them out of the city, but it would take them to other cities. They showed their tickets to the transit watcher and boarded the train. "Naru where are we going?" she asked.

He did not answer her, but he became rather tight lipped instead. They were on that train for several hours before they got off on the first train stop and followed the stairs up and out of the transit center. Mai noticed with a frown that the transit center was far less well-kept than it should be, and they were the only ones even getting off at that stop.

Not only that, but the train only stayed five minutes rather than ten before it took off down the tunnel. Mai followed Naru up into a small town and found the darkness of the town to be almost all-encompassing. Street lights were burnt out or broken, graffiti littered walls left and right, and not every building was perfect.

Naru ignored the fact and took off at a brisk pace. Mai followed with more hesitation than before. Where were they going? What were they doing? Why would Naru go someplace if he had no idea what was going on when he got there?

They followed the streets and Mai was glad she packed light. They walked into a better part of town, less rundown than the part by the subway, and continued until the buildings stopped. Mai was out of breath before they even came to a large stairs and when she saw the stairs she nearly groaned aloud. They began climbing the seemingly endless stairs and found they did indeed have an end.

At the top was a brightly lit courtyard, a very thick, tall tree with two stone benches beneath it, and a large Shinto shrine. A short building to the back of the courtyard was barely noticed and on the edge of the light emitting from the light posts. Naru approached the front door but before he could even open it, the door flew open and he was tackled.

"Naru!" the boy cackled joyously, even as he and Naru fell backward to the ground. "Uwah!" the boy grinned. "I knew it! I knew you were comin' the minute mama said she had a surprise for me and wouldn't tell me what it was! I knew it was you!"

Before Mai could even attempt to figure out what was going on, a woman came to the door. "Souta, what have I told you about tackling people?" the woman admonished.

Naru seemed to relax visibly with these people, Mai noticed. "It's alright, mother," Naru said, surprising Mai even further. Suddenly Takigawa's jokes seemed to replay in Mai's mind and she had to stop the daydreams before they could start. The boy Souta climbed off of Naru and they stood up. Naru did not smile still, but he was visibly more comfortable than Mai had ever seen him (except in her dreams).

Souta blurted, "You're real late! If you came when you were _supposed_ to…"

Naru's mother said, "Souta, don't tease your brother. Go get ready for bed. I don't care what you say. You're getting up in the morning!"

Souta ignored the woman and his eyes turned to Mai, pinning her with an eager grin. "Are you Naru's girlfriend? What's in that cage? Are you staying here? What's your name? How did you meet Naru? Isn't Naru real cool? Naru used to come here more often but now he doesn't! So will you make sure he comes more often?"

The woman opened her mouth to tell Souta to go to bed again (Mai was blushing so bad she couldn't think straight) but a sudden shriek alerted them all to the presence of yet another person.

_"Demon!"_ yelled an old man, swooping forward to plaster papers to Mai and Daisy's cage.

"Eep!" Mai tried to dodge but the man had impeccable aim. Every last one landed somewhere on Mai and the glue was really nasty to feel.

_"Demon be gone! I will not tolerate a demon on my property! Ah! Gone!"_

Naru and Souta grabbed the old man and dragged him into the house, leaving Mai alone with the woman. Mai couldn't really identify what scared her more: evil spirits trying to kill her with a vengeance, or that old man. She pealed a piece of paper from her cheek, almost feeling as though squashed and sticky bananas were left on her flesh.

"I'm so sorry," Naru's mother apologized. "My father is older every year… Come, let's go inside. We'll get you settled and you can take a bath."

Thoroughly embarrassed (Mai was suddenly glad she had no family), Mai followed the woman inside. She was brought to a bathroom. "Naru said he was bringing a friend, but he didn't say it was a girl," the woman chuckled. "I thought he would bring Lin again."

"Naru didn't tell me where we were going," Mai admitted, pulling a sticky piece of paper from her shirt. Great, and she liked this shirt too…

"I'm Naru's mother, Ai. If you need anything, feel free to ask." She opened a cupboard. "The towels and soaps are kept in here." She grabbed a specific bottle and handed it to Mai. "This will get that glue off you. Use as much as you need. Did you bring clothes?" She seemed to miss the fact that Mai had her duffle bag with her. Mai nodded. "Alright, then just put your sullied clothes in the hamper there," she pointed to a brown hamper by the sink, "and I'll wash them for you."

"Thank you, Mrs. Ai," Mai said politely, bowing over Daisy's cage.

Ai chuckled. "Just Ai, please. I'm not that old!" Mai smiled and nodded. "What's your name?"

"Mai Taniyama," Mai said.

"Well," Ai said, "welcome to Sunset Shrine, Mai. Go ahead and take a bath. Once you're done, I'll have Naru show you to the guest room." Ai left and the door clicked shut. Just as it did, Mai felt something strange on the outside of her mind tickling for attention. She couldn't identify it, so she cast it aside and did as Ai said, preparing a bath.


	3. Part three

**Title: The Broken Portal Ghost Hunt Version  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer__: This fan fiction is dedicated to feathergriffin who asked me to write it.  
Saiyuki—Don't own  
Full Metal Alchemist—Don't own  
YuYu Hakusho—Don't own  
Excel Saga—Don't own  
Ghost Hunt—Don't own  
Inuyasha—Don't own_

**NOTE**: Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out, guys. Thanks for waiting so patiently. - TK

* * *

Part three

The bath took too long in Mai's opinion. She wasn't even used to baths; she liked showers. It was almost two hours later that Mai finally was able to get out of the tub, finally clean of the goop that Naru's senile grandfather had used as glue. She was able to dress in clean clothes (she wasn't going to put her pajamas on just yet) and then left the bathroom with Daisy and her duffle bag, hoping to find Naru.

The first thing she'd noticed about Naru's mother's home was that it was very large, although that wasn't entirely surprising. What was surprising to her was that the home itself was on an old Shinto shrine. Mai thought that Ayako Matsuzaki, the self-claimed miko who worked with Naru at Shibuya Psychic Research (SPR) on their cases, would have a field day if she ever found out Naru lived where he did.

She wasn't sure how she was going to find Naru, though. Not in the giant building, at least. Was she supposed to wait by the bathroom for him? Ai had said that Naru would show her to the guest room, but she didn't say where she could find Naru after the bath.

Mai sighed heavily, debating her options mentally. It would likely be considered rude if she just started trooping around the place, perhaps nosy. But then again, what if she was _expected_ to go looking for Naru?

After a few minutes standing in the hallway, she decided to head back toward the entrance of the Shrine; there had been a few doors on the way, maybe one of the family members were there (hopefully not Naru's grandpa though) and could direct her toward Naru?

She padded quietly in her stockings, noticing Daisy's obvious discomfort. Could Daisy feel that strange tickling sensation that Mai could? There was definitely something disquieting about this shrine, but what could it be? Mai wasn't exactly an expert at determining what it could be though.

Hopefully it wasn't some insane spirit that wanted to kill Mai. She had definitely met enough of those to last a lifetime.

A few hallways later, and Mai was back at the entrance next to a staircase going up and the door leading outside. Down the hall beside the staircase she could hear silverware clattering on dishes and low voices. She walked toward the voices, recognizing Naru's immediately.

"How is she doing?" Naru asked.

"Nothing to worry about, my boy!" Mai guessed that was Naru's senile grandpa. "She's in the hospital for Rumpleknacker Syndrome. It's highly contagious, so you won't want to be going to visit her, plus there's a ninety-nine percent chance of being fatal, but everything's going to be okay!"

Mai paused almost mid-step. Rumpleknacker Syndrome? What the heck was that? Who was Naru worried about, and why—if there was only a one percent survival rate—wouldn't someone worry about someone being sick?

"Grandfather," Naru began monotonously, "you need sleep. Go to bed."

"Father," that must be Ai talking now, "Naru's right. You should go to bed now. You've got a big day ahead of you tomorrow—you said you wanted to look for something in the attic."

"Ah-ha!" the grandfather shrieked like he'd just remembered something he'd forgotten. "I must go to bed! I have a big day ahead of me, and I wanted to spend some quality time cleaning the attic tomorrow. Both of you, be sure to put those wards up before you sleep; I wouldn't like it if you got bit by a Vietnamese Gurplesnorkak while you sleep."

There was a sliding of a chair on linoleum and then footsteps. Mai supposed the grandfather must have gone out some other way because he didn't come into the hall she was in (THANK THE HEAVENS!!). She moved toward the only door in the long corridor that was currently open and had light spooling from, and conversation in the room lifted again.

"Sorry, dear," Ai said probably to Naru. "You know your grandfather isn't aging all that well. Kagome's fine." Mai did _not_ miss how Daisy went insane the minute Ai said the name 'Kagome'. The plump little mouse was scurrying around so fast in the cage that the weight from one side to the other made it hard to hold the cage.

"Daisy, stop it," Mai whispered, and surprisingly enough, the mouse did stop moving around. Her tiny body shook visibly.

"Mother, you and I both know Kagome is fine, so why is she in the hospital _this_ time?" Naru demanded. Again, Daisy went mad the instant the name 'Kagome' floated back to them. This time, the mouse didn't stop when Mai asked.

"She was feeling under the weather and the doctor wanted to keep an eye on her for a few days. Now, dear, I think you know what question comes next." Ai said. She was answered with silence, so she continued, "I know it's been over ten years since you got sick, but I worry about you and your health. You're not working too hard are you?"

Mai wasn't sure she should be hearing the conversation. It seemed incredibly personal, but then again, there weren't many chances to find out anything about Naru. In her mind, she knew she ought to leave, but her body wouldn't do that. It stayed standing there in the hall as Daisy continued to freak out in the cage.

"I am fine, mother," Naru said firmly. "I have never been better." The clatter of silverware on dishes again rang, as if someone set something down. "I should go see if Mai has finished up in the bathroom."

"Naru, I know it pains you," Ai said quickly, as though wanting to assure him of something before he left her alone in the room, "but your father's death wasn't your fault. I know you blame yourself, but you cannot continue doing it. None of us blame you, except _you_."

Mai's jaw had nearly dropped to the floor. There she had been about to take off running down the hall so she didn't get caught eavesdropping, when Ai said something like _that_. And what exactly did the death of Naru's father have to do with Naru possibly being unhealthy? Mai hadn't even known Naru _had_ a father, much less knowing his father was dead. Oh, of course she did know Naru had a father _somewhere_, but she supposed she just never made that connection before.

Silence was all that met Ai's words before Naru exited into the hallway, turned, and met Mai's eyes as if he'd known she was there the whole time. There was something in his eyes that seemed to challenge Mai to speak a word of what she'd heard, and he walked toward her.

He grasped the mouse cage from her—she was on the verge of dropping it—and said in a low, non-carrying voice, "Come with me."

She was startled by the even colder edge to his voice so followed mutely, feeling ashamed to have been listening in on his private conversations. Naru took her up the stairs and turned left down a white carpeted corridor. The light brown sections of walls hung various family pictures of Naru, Ai, Naru's younger brother, Naru's grandfather, an older man who Mai supposed must be Naru's father, and a girl slightly older than Mai.

Only five doors were in this corridor. Naru pointed at one and said, "That is my sister's room," that door had a pressed daffodil bloom tacked to it, and then Naru pointed to the door directly across from the other. That door had several posters tacked on it depicting console games and cartoons. "That is my brother's room." He pointed at the blank door across from a door with a framed embroidery reading "GUEST" and said, "That is my room, and that is the room you will be staying in."

He opened the guest room and entered, placing Daisy's cage on a plain desktop. The room itself wasn't incredibly furnished. There was a bed covered in neutral gray sheets and a wicker rocking chair in one corner. A television stand sat in one corner of the room with a small television on it and a remote nearby. A small lamp stood at the head of the bed on a stand. Another corner of the room had a bookshelf filled with various inexpensive decorations and what looked to be rather random books. There was a short dresser and a closet as well. It had more than her apartment did, at any rate.

Mai's heart skipped several beats when she heard the door close, and it nearly stopped _completely_ when she turned to the door in surprise, only to find that Naru was still in the room. Her duffle bag slipped and clumped on the floor and nervous butterflies were in her stomach.

Wasn't it considered inappropriate for a guy and a girl to be alone in a room, behind a closed door? This was, of course, disregarding the fact that she'd been alone in a room with him many times before either on cases or else at the office. So why did she feel so nervous?

Naru was speaking…whispering… She blushed when he stopped and realized she hadn't heard a word he'd said. "Um, I'm sorry? I, er, didn't catch that," she admitted.

Naru stared at her for a long minute, the expression on his face completely unreadable and she wanted to squirm under that stare, feeling so out of place there with him. Alone. In a room. In his parent's house. In a room with a bed. Alone.

"While we are here, you _cannot_ mention 'Kazuya Shibuya' or anything in regards to work. You will refer to me as 'Naru' only. If asked, you will say you work at Higurashi Electronics, understood?"

What was this all about? "Um, sure, but why?"

He did not indulge her with an answer. "Tomorrow, I will be going into town for my mother. You will join me." He left abruptly, and closed the door behind him. He'd spoken so soft that with the door closed, no one outside would have heard what he said. Heck, she barely made out the words.

She changed into her pajamas rather hesitantly, wishing she had answers for Naru's strange behavior. Why couldn't she mention SPR? And wouldn't his family already know his name was Kazuya Shibuya? And did 'Higurashi Electronics' even _exist_?

Mai went to sit at the desk when it turned out that sleep wasn't working. How could she be expected to sleep when Naru was just across the hall, oh so close, and Daisy was going insane in the cage. "Daisy, what is your problem?" Mai asked the mouse. She sat in the darkness, watching the mouse in the dim moonlight shining in through the window.

Morning seemed to come too soon when Naru's hand shook her awake. She found out that sleeping at a desk didn't feel good come morning, but she couldn't remember falling asleep. The night had been filled with endless thoughts.

When she realized Naru's hand was still on her shoulder, a cherry sprinkling flew across her cheeks and she stared somewhat gapingly up at him. Then, of course, she realized her pajamas were not exactly the type of thing she should be wearing in presence of a boy! A tank-top and skimp-shorts were all she had on. That cherry sprinkling turned into such a deep-set red that she swore even her toes must have changed color.

In her haste to get away from him and find something to cover herself with, she fell off the chair and knocked into Naru, taking him down with her. After her shriek, it was a wonder the dead didn't wake up. She ended up landing with a face full of Naru's stomach and her hand on his thigh, rather close to his groin. He had tried to save her fall—after all, he wasn't _that_ cold hearted—so his left arm was on her upper body while his right arm was bracing himself in a half-prop.

And, well, of course her shriek attracted attention; young, misunderstanding attention. The door flew open, and Souta stood in its stead, gaping for a few seconds before he turned a plum purple with embarrassment and shot down the hall screaming, "Mama! Naru and his girlfriend are doing raunchy things and making out on the floor of the guest bedroom! I saw it myself! Mama, mama!"

Needless to say, Mai was embarrassed to be caught in such an awkward position. She shot away from Naru, unable to think properly to even formulate words. Naru, of course, seemed completely unfazed. He got up, dusted his black clothing of imaginary dust, and stalked to the door. "Get dressed." He shut the door.

'How can he not be affected by something like that?' Mai screamed mentally. 'His mother probably thinks I'm some sort of slut now or something, thanks to his brother's ranting!' Oh, today wasn't going to be a good day.

She threw on clothes from her bag, a pair of somewhat ripped jeans and a large tee-shirt. She would have worn something more fitting and cute, but after such an episode, she really felt it would be appropriate to have something to _cover_ her.

Naru was waiting for her in the hall. He took off downstairs the minute she was out, and she hurried to follow. He led her to the kitchen where dishes were being set out filled with scrambled eggs, toast, bacon, and sausages. Once in the kitchen, Souta was immediately heard saying, "And I heard a noise from her room, so I went to check it out and they were on the floor and all over each other!" Souta said.

Mai's face turned really red (she was inventing new, unknown colors as she stood there) and she hurriedly said, "It wasn't anything like that, nothing was happening, I was sleeping and Naru startled me."

Ai smiled knowingly before turning back to the stove. Souta said, "And Naru's hand was on her back, and," he looked like he could go on for hours, so Mai hurriedly interrupted.

"Nothing, nothing happened, I promise!" What was more disturbing was the fact that Naru was not denying the accusation. He merely sat down at the table, thanked his mother for the food, and began eating. Why wasn't he helping Mai against such accusations?

"Mai, darling, it's alright." Ai said. She glanced at Souta with a stern look. "You, young man, are you ready for your piano lessons? No console games unless you've memorized that score perfectly." The boy paled before running out of the room. Ai laughed and continued, "Mai, what you and Naru do is none of my concern. Just remember that proper protection _is_ a requirement. I don't want Naru giving me _any_ grandchildren before my Kagome does!"

**Did Naru realize his mother was talking about his sex life?!** Obviously not if he was going to sit there and act like the current conversation was no more important than one of the weather! "Nothing happened!" Mai squeaked.

Ai winked at Mai. "_Nothing_ happened to me either, and nine months later I had my first child. I just want you to be careful. Remember, no children until Naru's sister has one. It's simply not permitted."

Naru's grandfather walked into the room, smiled cheerily at everyone (including Mai, who winced and prayed the conversation would not continue) and greeted everyone a good morning. Thankfully the subject was dropped and Naru waved to the seat beside him. "Sit, Mai." He said importantly. She wanted to hit him for not defending her honor, but then again what else could she expect of him? She would question his sanity if he did anything out of character.

She sat and looked at her plate, trying to think of something to turn her thoughts around. Her face was still a new shade of ripe apple red. She looked at the contents of her plate, and latched onto the only other thought she could think of at the moment instead of the whole embarrassing morning.

'Would it be rude not to eat the sausages?' she thought. She didn't like the texture of sausages, even though it was all from the same animal anyway. A hand entered her vision, and along with the hand was a fork. The fork speared the sausages on her plate, her eyes followed the arm back to Naru.

'Did he know I don't like sausages?' she wondered.

Naru said, "You may have my bacon, if you like," in his usual calm, collected voice.

Souta cooed and made fish-lips—when did he come back?!

Mai wanted the ground to swallow her whole. She shook her head, declining the offer for his bacon, and glanced at Ai. She was sitting at the table, smiling that knowing smile. 'Dang it,' Mai thought miserably, 'She's probably thinking that Naru and I are an item, not that I'd mind of course _if it were true_ but it isn't really and now she thinks Naru knows my likes and dislikes! Er… does he know them? Why else would he take my sausages? On another note, how the heck does he know I don't like sausages?'

By the time breakfast was done, she felt like the world had turned inside out. Naru's family was insane, and she wanted to go home.

"Naru, dear," Ai said after Souta had gone with his grandfather to his piano lessons at someone else's place. "I have a grocery list that needs to be handled. Do you think you and Mai could go pick the items up?"

It sounded as if she was just now bringing it up, but hadn't Naru said last night that Ai would ask them to go into town… Maybe she was just bringing it up for Mai's sake? Or just reminding Naru to go?

"Yes, mother. We would be happy to go." He sounded as monotonous as ever, which obviously didn't make him sound happy. What was with him? Was he some sort of goth that he was constantly monotonous and wore gloomy black clothes?

Either way, Mai was eager to get out of the house, and the minute they had stepped off that last stair leading down from the shrine property, she rounded on him in righteous fury. "You!" she yelled at him as he led her toward the grocery store—wherever that was in this town. "How dare you sit there and say _nothing_? Why the hell am I even here? Why can't I call you by your name? What aren't you telling me?"

He remained silent as she threw question after question at him, not bothering to give him a chance to even get a breath in edgewise. When she had finally stopped for a pause, they were walking through a park and several blocks away from the shrine. She was getting angry at his lack of response, so she stopped walking and glared at his back until he realized she wasn't going to go _anywhere_ without some answers.

Finally he stopped and turned to look at her. Children in the park were racing all around them, but she didn't care. Mothers and nannies were walking by on their way to park benches where they could sit to watch their children play, but she didn't notice. Teenagers their age were walking through the park with ice cream, gossiping about sports or guys, but she ignored them.

Naru walked up to her and said, "Let's go," as if she would simply obey him. Not this time.

"_Answer_ me," she told him, her voice nothing more than a soft hiss.

"Not here," he said importantly.

"YES HERE!" she yelled, her voice attracting attention from all ages. Some looked confused, some looked like they thought she and Naru were having some sort of public lovers-spat. His deep blue eyes flashed with annoyance. "You're going to tell me, _Naru_, or I'm going to go home, because it appears I don't even serve a purpose to SPR here, especially if I can't even talk about SPR anywhere!"

"Silence!" he snapped, though somehow he never lost his cool attitude. "You have an incredibly big mouth, you know that?"

"Works fine for me, since you never talk anyway, _someone's_ got to!"

He narrowed his eyes at her, then grabbed her hand and said, "Come," but she yanked her hand out of his hold.

She slapped his hand away when he went to grab her arm again. "No! If you try again, I'll scream rape," she was so frustrated, but she did manage to keep her voice low and threatening that time. There she was, feeling like nothing more than a scrapped rag compared to the well-dressed Kazuya Shibuya, seventeen-year-old president of Shibuya Psychic Research.

Naru glared at her for a long, hard minute before moving close to her. "Fine," he said, but he kept his voice very low. What he was going to tell her, she knew he didn't want anyone to hear. "My _real_ name is Naru Higurashi and I brought you here because I needed a fake girlfriend for the duration of my stay." She was so shocked, she nearly fainted. She couldn't think of anything to say to that, because it wasn't anything close to what she thought he'd say.

Her eyes went wide at the tone of his voice. "You brought me?" she demanded. "YOU DID NOT GIVE ME A DAMN OPTION!" she usually didn't resort to swearing. "What if I didn't want to be your damn pretend girlfriend?" she demanded.

His glare turned into a blank stare and he raised one eyebrow at her. "Did I mention you will be paid?"

"BE PAID SO THAT YOUR FAMILY THINKS I'M A SLUT?!" she screamed. She shoved him, hard, and he actually stumbled before righting himself. "It's bad enough I'm an orphan and you're incredibly rich! NO! Now you want me to SELL MYSELF too! I CANNOT BE BOUGHT YOU NARCISSIST PIG!"

She stormed away from him, heading back the way they came. She was going to go back, get her stuff, and leave. She could remember the way to the subway station, she just had to purchase a ticket that would take her back to inner Tokyo, and by this time tomorrow morning, her official resignation would be on Naru's desk.

Naru caught up to her when she was in front of a book store, though it was beyond her abilities to see why it took him so long to catch up to her if he was going to come after her at all. He grabbed her arm and spun her around. She was going to slap him, but that was before she saw the look on his face.

"Please," he said lowly, "don't go back. I'll give you a raise."

"I don't want a raise," she snapped. "I want you to let me go home."

"I'll buy you a car, and pay a driver to take you wherever you want to go for the rest of your life." He said.

"I _like_ taking the bus." She hated taking the bus. She was saving up money so that she could register for driving lessons. She already managed to save up enough money for a cheap beater car that was in relatively good condition. It was currently parked in Osamu Yasuhara's yard, since she and Yasuhara had really gotten to be good friends and he didn't mind keeping it for her.

"I'll get you into driving lessons," he offered. What the heck? Was he reading her mind? No, he probably wasn't.

"I said I _like_ taking the bus," she told him.

"I'll buy you a house wherever you want and pay every expense of yours for the rest of your life!" The look on his face was something she'd never expected to see: pleading. If he was willing to pay for every expense of hers, buy her a car, pay a driver, and buy her a house, she guessed he really, really needed help.

When she didn't respond, he actually got down on his knees in front of her. Her eyes went really wide and she tugged his arms up. "Get up, get up," she said. That was definitely over the line. Where had all the sanity gone in the world? "I'll help, just get up." A momentary look of relief flashed through his eyes and he stood up. She rubbed her temples and asked, "Why do you need a girlfriend?"

He looked like he didn't want to answer, so she threatened, "I can still change my mind at any time."

"I need a girlfriend because my sister said if I don't have one by the time I'm seventeen, she's going to set her friends on me." He was very blunt about it.

"Why would you just _assume_ I would go along with this?" she demanded.

"I didn't believe you would ask questions, so I figured you wouldn't even have to know."

"How the hell did you plan to accomplish _that_ one? Of course I'd notice!"

He was silent.

Mai's next question came abruptly, and she felt almost guilty for him choosing her for this stupid 'job'. "But, I thought you were dating Masako? Why not bring her?"

"I did not ask Masako, because she would have gotten the idea that I wanted a permanent relationship—which I don't. I thought you would be the best option because you won't get ideas."

'What if I wanted to get ideas?' she thought, but immediately corrected the thought, 'Not that I do.' "Isn't that mean to Masako? If she finds out you asked me to pretend to be your girlfriend, what do you think she's going to do? Smile and let it slide?" 'She'll probably bite my head of,' Mai added mentally.

"She _isn't_ going to find out." He said firmly. "You will not _tell_ her, and neither will I. She believes I am Kazuya Shibuya, so whatever Naru Higurashi does, she won't notice."

She growled low, "And just why can't I bring up SPR?"

"My family doesn't know about it," he said. "Look at my grandfather? If I told him I hunted ghosts for a living, he'd have a heart attack in his excitement. My sister's health is rather… delicate… and I wouldn't want her worrying because I know she would. My brother can't keep secrets. Aside from that, ghost hunting is what my father did and my mother doesn't believe in spirits so thinks it to be a waste of time."

Wow, what a lengthy and personal explanation… She certainly hadn't expected to hear all that. Maybe just one or two clipped sentences, not a whole explanation that made sense… and was personal…

"And Higurashi Electronics is…?"

"Naru Higurashi's company," he responded immediately. "It's a business mainly running in electronics, building customized computers and," she held up her hand.

"I take it back. I don't want to know. And how exactly were you going to bring it up that I was your girlfriend?" she almost spat the world 'girlfriend' rather disdainfully, but managed to stem the urge. She wanted to be his girlfriend, not pretend girlfriend. Actually, that was a lie. She lied to herself a lot…

"Actually, it was my intention to leave it to Souta to guess. I planned this morning's incident."

"YOU WHAT?!" she screeched, and he must have realized he said the wrong thing. She slapped him before taking off down the street. "PERVERT!" she said.

-

Okay, so she wasn't exactly certain _how_ he managed to do it, but Mai wasn't on her way home. However, she did have a $30/hour raise, and a folded contract (written and witnessed by a real lawyer) that stated Naru would buy her a condo somewhere near school, one with a car garage nearby. With such a hefty raise (she was already making $10/hour before), she was sure she could maintain her bills and still have extra left over.

Not only that, but she was getting paid double-time for every hour she had to spend at Naru's house. She was getting paid $80/hour to eat, sleep, and pretend, which wasn't so bad. It was ridiculous of Naru to actually go along with her terms, but he apparently had the money to waste and she wasn't going to say no to a paycheck of $1920/day, especially since this was a week-long excursion. Before taxes, that would be $13,440 dollars.

She couldn't help but think greedily of how nice a paycheck that was going to be.

They went shopping for groceries and since Mai was the woman of the two, she ended up pushing the cart. Naru didn't want to get too much, since they would be carrying the bags back (and since his bank account now had a significant "Mai-Shaped" dent in it), but they got everything on the list Ai had given Naru.

The walk back was silent, somewhat tense. At the bottom of the stairs to the shrine, Mai told Naru flatly, "You're so full of yourself." He didn't dignify her with a response. Apparently he had been uncharacteristic enough already, so was back to his usual non-smiling, cool, collected, uncaring, narcissistic self.

They got in the shrine and went straight for the kitchen. "Ah, Naru, dear," Ai smiled, "You just _barely_ missed Kagome. She is home and went to take a bath."

"I know she's home," Naru said, "I received a phone call from Lin earlier this morning. He was going to bring her home. Is Lin still here?" Was that when Naru didn't show up right away to stop her from leaving?

Ai chuckled. "Poor guy, Souta dragged him right off to play Grum Turisko or whatever that car game is. I think Souta got bored of winning, and now they're playing some fighting game."

"Are they in Souta's room, or the living room?" Naru inquired.

"The living room, dear. I'm surprised you didn't hear Souta's laughing on the way in."

Naru set his load down on the table before leaving the room. Mai wasn't sure what to do, so she said, "Is there any way I can help, Mrs. Ai?"

"Just Ai, please dear," she said for the second time. "If you could just come here and stir this pot, I can put away the groceries." Mai did as was asked of her and moved over to the stove, grabbing the ladle and stirring the pot continuously at a steady pace. Once the groceries were away, Ai went into the cupboards and got out dishes for everyone to eat their lunch from. "Just keep stirring that pot, darling, I'll be back in a tic."

Fifteen minutes later, she came back with everyone except Naru's sister, who was apparently into the very long bath scenario. Everyone was seated at the table, and lunch commenced. Thankfully Lin kept Souta occupied enough that no hazardous heart-stopping accusations were thrown out. Real talk was able to get out of people's mouths, while Grandpa Higurashi chanted on and on about how his beautiful granddaughter was the reincarnation of a beautiful priestess from five hundred years ago, and she traveled through time to save the world from an evil jewel monger named Naraku who was hell-bent on destruction.

'That guy really is off his rocker,' Mai thought.

After lunch, Lin excused himself, thanking Ai for a wonderful meal before he and Naru left to talk 'business' again. Mai offered to help with dishes, and at the very mention of 'dishes', Souta melted into the shadows, slinking off to play his games while Grandpa Higurashi rambled about rampant demons habiting the basement level of the shrine that needed to be taken care of.

Ai smiled at Mai and accepted the help. Not much later, Mai and Ai were sitting down at the table talking. "I can't help but wonder, Mai, dear, how you met my Naru?" she said curiously as she poured Mai a cup of chamomile tea.

"Er, through work, sort of," Mai said hesitantly.

"He said you're his secretary," Ai giggled secretively, "quite ironic, actually, since I was secretary to my husband before I met him."

Mai blushed deeply, "Um, Naru doesn't want a permanent relationship, so I don't think the irony is quite the same…" Definitely not the same. Naru didn't even know Mai liked him…because of course, she didn't, but that was another story for another day. "What was Mr. Higurashi like… um, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Oh, it's no problem. He was a very interesting man," Ai sighed happily in her memories and breathed a deep breath of her tea's scent. "He was a firm believer in spirits and ghosts, actually. He was slightly off his rocker, much like my father is, because he said he was born a demon and was turned human by a demi-god named Koenma."

Mai's eyebrows shot into her hairline. "Koenma?" she inquired. "My mum used to tell me about a demi-god named Koenma, how he had Spirit Detectives who fought against evil demons. But these were all just stories. She read them to me out of books."

Ai took a sip of her tea and winked at Mai. "Oh, I know that, and you know that. All those books in your room are the novels written by K. Kuwabara and S. Minamino that deal with the 'adventures' of the Spirit Detectives. They're wonderful tales, but some say that the books have the ability to possess the reader and make them believe _they're_ the characters in the book."

"But, I've never read any book where a demon was turned human. Which one was that?" Mai asked.

"I believe it was Ryu's Sacrifice, but don't quote me. My husband was friends with the two authors, and they always gave him a copy first. However, after my husband's death and the death of one of his friends, the books stopped coming." Ai's face turned slowly downcast before she smiled again. "There are more books being written, of course. Mr. Kuwabara and Mr. Minamino never stopped writing. I just don't go out of my way to purchase them."

"My mum was fond of those stories," Mai admitted. "She read them to me so often, I almost memorized them. When I got into Junior High though, I didn't have time to keep reading, so anything after The Dark Tournament I haven't read." 'Not to mention, I'm always busy with work so I can pay my rent, 'cause I'm all alone,' Mai added mentally.

"Ah," Ai nodded. "It was three books after that one. Feel free to peruse the shelves upstairs if you like. As I have said, I have many of their novels. Probably at least fifty of them. Oh, and the library here in town has the whole collection. I believe there are about one hundred by K. Kuwabara, and an equal amount by S. Minamino. As I said, both of them are still alive, and still writing."

"Who was your favorite character?" Mai asked curiously. "Out of the four Spirit Detectives? Ryu, Tenma, Megumi, or Soshi?"

Ai giggled, "Ryu. I liked the dark, yet confused nature of his character. He had a soft side that very few saw, and covered it up with cruel words, and the only one who usually escaped his wrath was Soshi. I liked how he often got into fights with Megumi and Tenma to cover up the fact that he had come to respect the two, even though they were nothing more than humans. And I think my favorite part was after they fought in the Maze Castle and Tenma and Megumi were all beat up, so Soshi devilishly 'convinced' Ryu to help his fellow Spirit Detectives on the grounds that if he didn't, it would make him look bad because of how Tenma had previously beaten Ryu. What about you?"

Mai made circles with one finger on the table top. "I think I liked Tenma best. He was good guy, not the smartest but he was a good guy. He fought for what he believed in, and when he managed to make a friend, he protected that friend and their friendship with fierceness rivaled by no one else. He had a cute relationship with Morita, and the others liked him and looked to him for leadership." She paused, and then asked, "Does Naru read those books? I've never seen him read anything other than work related material."

Ai's face fell again, but it didn't appear as easy to lift again. "Naru used to study those books like they were history texts. His father used to tell him all sorts of stories, read to him from those books, and Naru is the only one who believes my husband really was Ryu. For a while, I thought Naru would take after his father and become a ghost hunter, but thankfully, Naru did something _real_ with his life. After my husband passed, Naru began blaming himself for the death—" whatever else Ai might have said was cut off as Naru himself came into the room.

Naru's thin lips seemed to prove that he'd heard what Ai had been telling Mai. "Lin left, but he gives his regards and his thanks," Naru said in a somewhat clipped voice.

Ai frowned. "Don't you take that tone with me, young man," she said seriously and took a sip of her tea. Slowly she lowered the tea cup to the table and silence seemed to reign in the kitchen. Ai looked up at her son through her lashes and told him, "I don't care how old you get, or how well off you are, Naru. That tone is unacceptable." She got up and moved to the cupboard, pulling down a tea cup and making a cup for Naru.

Naru frowned at the reprimand but he moved and sat down at the table. Mai hoped to ease the building tension, so she said, "Naru's company broke record sales this month." Naru had insisted on telling her about the computer company while they were shopping earlier.

Ai beamed at Naru and Mai winced internally. She supposed she could understand how Naru wanted to keep his mother from knowing about being a ghost hunter. She seemed somewhat reproachful of the whole idea of her husband being a ghost hunter, and she seemed very happy that Naru wasn't one.

Conversation picked up slightly with Ai asking Naru questions on how business was going. Not much later, they heard someone enter the kitchen. Ai looked up from her tea and smiled. "Ah, darling," she said, "how was the bath?"

Naru turned his head to look at the newcomer, and his eyes met Mai's as she turned to look as well. Mai felt she knew he was secretly saying, 'Do a good job at convincing my sister, or you're fired,' which almost made her pale. He didn't _actually_ say it, but she almost felt like he did. She almost got angry then, because she had almost quit earlier and now he was giving her the 'or else you're fired' looks.

Naru's sister was a very pretty girl and didn't actually look as unhealthy as Mai had imagined she would be. Mai realized that she was actually the occupant of the _only_ picture Naru kept in his office. She had long raven colored hair, tan skin (not pale like Naru's), and the same dark blue eyes that Naru had. She was thin, but fit if her clothes said anything about her. She wore a short, navy blue skirt with a yellow short sleeve blouse; the colors seemed to contrast awkwardly in Mai's opinion, and the white knee-high stockings she wore seemed to give an added strange touch to the look.

Despite that, she seemed confident in her look, and she wore an open smile on her face. "It was good," she said in response to the question asked. She looked at Naru for a moment as Naru stood up and turned to her. "Hey, Naru," she said and moved toward him. They embraced—yes, Naru was actually touching someone willingly in a form of affection! How strange! "It's been a while since I've seen my baby brother," she teased, looking up at Naru.

"How are you feeling?" Naru asked.

For a brief moment, irritation crossed Kagome's face. Then she rolled her eyes, smiled playfully, and said, "Narcissus Higurashi," Naru actually flinched, "I'm _fine_. Now tell me about your trip to France."

Mai tried not to—she really did. But it was just too funny. She was nearly shoving her fist in her mouth trying not to laugh as the three other occupants of the kitchen looked at her. Finally she couldn't take it and she started giggling, which turned into an all out laughter not long after.

When she noticed Naru glaring from her to Kagome and back again, she tried to calm down and explain what was so funny. "_Narcissus_?" she inquired, giggling again, "As in the youth in Greek mythology who fell in love with his own reflection? Oh, it suits you!" she laughed again.

Naru glared coldly at Mai. "Is there a _problem_ with my name, Mai Taniyama?" he demanded.

A smirk crossed Kagome's lips as she took a seat at the table and a smiling Ai got up to get another tea cup. "I see she's well acquainted with your personality, Naru," Kagome said. With Kagome now having a cup of tea in her hands, Ai hid her smile behind her tea-cup.

Naru sat down at the table again, and Mai could have sworn he actually huffed slightly. _THE_ Naru had huffed. The world was going bananas, she swore it. "I'll have you know, my father chose my name and I have no problem with it." He snapped.

Kagome promptly ignored Naru and turned to Mai, holding out her hand in greeting. "I'm Kagome, old sour-face's sister." She jutted her free thumb at Naru before Mai shook her hand. "Don't feel bad about laughing at his name. _Everyone_ finds it amusing, because he grew into it _perfectly_."

"Oh, don't tease your brother, Kagome, darling," Ai tutted and made herself yet another glass of tea from the pot of hot water.

Kagome said, "So you're Naru's girlfriend, hm?" She seemed to be looking at Mai with an appraising eye, and Mai felt almost naked under those x-ray vision eyes. It was like Kagome could see right through her, which was completely silly to think, of course. "You're definitely cute enough for my brother," she giggled and added, "and probably spice up his life too." Mai invented yet another color of red at that moment.

What was WRONG with Naru's family? What was with all the innuendos and blunt sex references? Or did Mai somehow have a really, _really_ perverted mind and she was just _thinking_ that innocent words meant something far from it?

**_╝╝╝This chapter coincides with Chapter 9 of TBP: Saiyuki Version. That chapter is already posted. Please review!_**


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